Vault 52
by Kata'ari
Summary: After traveling across the country, the Courier's team and the Lone Wanderer have joined forces. This is a possible chapter of that story. Lone Wanderer, Leo Grey, and Arcade Gannon have run across a Vault as they explore. Everything seems quiet, but is it as it seems? Yeah, I know, I suck at summaries.


**Alright, so this is my first fanfiction and I'm not too sure about it. This is just an idea, so let me know if you want to read the whole story please message me. (As a side note, I don't have a beta so this has only been edited by me, so please forgive any spelling/grammar mistakes).**

**Finally, Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, Arcade and Dogmeat do not belong to me and this is all fan-based. No profit. Leo, however, is all mine.  
**

...

"How come we pulled the Vault?" Leo groaned as she pushed the loose strands of auburn hair from her face. She glanced back at Arcade with a scowl as he chuckled at her discomfort. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, asshole. Vaults are bad news." She grumbled, pulling the Blackhawk from it's holster and glancing around the cave they were in.

"It probably isn't that bad, Leo, the Khans said that they don't get much trouble from around here." He reasoned as he pulled his plasma pistol free, holding it loosely at his side as he walked towards the Vault entrance just as Dogmeat started to grow loudly at the darkness. Leo reacted without thinking, lunging forwards and grabbing his arm, pulling him behind her as the flash of a knife cut the air where he had been moments before. Dogmeat lunged for their assailant, gripping his arm in his vice-like teeth and wrestling the knife out of his hand, while Leo fired. Two shots echoed around the cavern and the young man slumped to the floor, his blood pooling around his head and chest.

"Believe me now, Arcade. Vaults are trouble." She turned to her companion, who was climbing to his feet and wiping blood from his cheek. "Why didn't ya wear yer armour?" She asked as she offered him her hand while checking over his wound.

"I didn't think I'd need it, everyone said that the area around here was quite safe, that and I've never felt entirely comfortable in the thing." He shrugged. "Bigger fool me, huh?" He gave her a self-deprecating smile.

"Remind me when we get back, if'n ya don't wanna wear powered armour, I 'ave some suits o' regular armour in the truck." She stepped back and looked around as he nodded. He then knelt down beside the body, checking the jumpsuit pockets as Leo wandered about the cavern looking for anything that might be of use or anything else that might do them harm.

"Leo?" Arcade's voice echoed to her as she rummaged through a box containing some spare parts and scrap. She looked up at him as he held her hand up to her. Tangled in his fingers was a large clump of the vault dwellers hair. "His skin is also dry, flaking around his lips and cheeks." He then peeled his lips open and examined his teeth. "Just as I thought, his teeth have either fallen out or are in the process of falling out." He glanced up at her as she made her way towards him.

"Advanced radiation poisoning." She diagnosed as he nodded in agreement. "But tha' makes no sense, I jus' found a crate full o' radiation meds." She opened her backpack, revealing it to be full of Rad-X and Radaway. "If they 'ad all this, why're they sufferin' radiation poisonin' at all? An' why is it all out 'ere?"

The questions were rhetorical, but Arcade answered with a shrug. "I suppose the only way we are going to find out, is by going in." He stood and looked towards the large metal door of the vault. It looked like it had malfunctioned a long time ago and was open just enough for them to slip through, the large faded yellow numbers reading '52', were just visible in the darkness of the entrance cavern.

"Alright Arcade, jus' stay behind me, and yer wearin' the firs' set o' armour we find, alright?" She said, as she walked towards the open door, leaning around it to peer inside. "It looks clear, come on. Dogmeat, go ahead." She let her dog through before followed, watching the animal for any signs of trouble. Dogmeat stayed calm, wandering about the entrance hall with a wagging tail and a curious sniff. "Yeah, it's clear." She said, walking inside properly herself, Arcade following closely behind.

…

They had been walking through the vault for almost half an hour before Leo had finally found her companion some armour, an abused set of Recon armour, which she helped him into as the PA system switched on. The sounds of an elderly man speaking, his voice intoning in a wild drawl, changing from frantic shouts to soothing murmurs in moments. Leo glanced at the nearby speaker before pulling out the bottle of whisky she had found earlier. "Arcade, carry this fer me? I wanna be sober when we get inta trouble." She handed him the bottle and turned to a faint glow in the corner. She recognised a computer and smiled. She might b able to get a little information about what is going on.

"What's going on, Leo? Were you thinking about drinking this down here?" Arcade asked; his voice edged with concern.

"It's too quiet. I've neva been in an empty vault afore. An' ta be 'onest, I don' think this un's empty." She shrugged before turning back to him with a sly smile. "Yer a bad influence, Arcade." She grinned at him.

"What? Why?" He asked, looking about in surprise as she laughed at him.

"Yer easy ta talk ta; mean I actually say what I'm thinkin'. Tha' ain't so good fer morale." She explained, trying to calm him down a little before heading towards the computer. "Go take a look in the boxes ova there, I'll read this. See if I can find ou' wha's been goin' on down 'ere." She nodded to a pile of metal boxes in the corner before logging on to the computer and hacking the password. She could hear Dogmeat whine behind her and rub against the back of her legs. He nuzzled her hand before curling up beside her with a yawn. She read the first couple logs, finding only a couple of minor mechanical failures in the food processing systems and air filtration system before finding something a little more interesting. The log was another mechanical failure, describing the locking seals of the Radiation Labs test rooms. The seals had been made substandard and radiation was leaking from the rooms every time they were used. She called over to Arcade, a hint of anger in her voice.

"Looks like the bastards were testin' radiation 'gainst the residen's here. Seals weren't too good through, had ta be fixed a coupla times." She paused, waiting for his reply and when none was forthcoming, she turned to look for him. She spotted him lying face down on the floor a few feet away; She took a step towards him before feeling something sharp impact her neck. She pulled it out and recognised the syringe. The sedative was fast reacting, causing her to fight for consciousness. She took a couple of steps towards her companion, her knees buckling as she drew close to Arcade. She collapsed on his chest, her gun in her hand.

…

Leo awoke groggily as she tried to remember what had happened, her eyes opening to a blurry room, with four large capacitors connected to focusing devices in each on the corners and a large mirror covering most of the far wall. A heavy duty door next to it. She was lying on her back, her hands at her sides. She could smell age-old blood, excrement and the tang of radiation and could hear her Pipboy clicking nearby. The memories of the events before she had been sedated came back to her in a flash of anger and she sat up, trying to raise her hands. They would only move a little way before the stopped and she heard metal on metal. Glancing down, she found herself handcuffed to a medical gurney. She growled in anger as she glanced around for some sign of her companions. There was no sign of them, although she could see her backpack tossed on to a nearby table, next to some medical equipment.

She allowed her eyes to roam the rest of the room and grinned as she saw the frames of the sunglasses just above her eyes, they hadn't taken anything from her when they had brought her to this room which she could only think was one of the radiation laboratories. She quickly manoeuvred herself onto her front, twisting her arms until they hurt, but not really caring so long as she could get out of her current predicament. She rested her face against her hand and pulled off the glasses, looking at the thin arms with a grin. Small, thin, just perfect from her current situation. "Sorry, Samson, but I'm gonna owe ya some sunglasses." She muttered to the air about her before gripping the arm in her teeth and twisting, breaking it off at the screw. She twisted her wrist, jammed the broken end in the lock for the handcuffs and forced the lock to open. She then released her other arm and stood, flinging her backpack on her back and making her was to the door, stepping over a skeleton on her way.

She heard the whine of something powering up just before her Pipboy started to crackle dramatically. A flash of light blinded her and she stumbled back away from the door, tripping over something that crunched underfoot and dug into her ankle painfully. She blinked back tears and coloured spots on her eyes before taking in her situation. Her Pipboy's Geiger counter had calmed down, but only a little as the whine started again, blinding her for a second time. She growled angrily at the mirror, hoping that there was someone behind there to see her. She was going to kill whoever had brought her here. She crawled towards the door again, kicking off the skeleton from her foot and banging her head against it when she got there. She scowled as the pain in her head started to develop into a full-blown headache. She kept her eyes closed as she examined the door with her hands, not trusting the capacitors to not blind her at an inopportune moment. She hazarded a quick glance at her Pipboy, reading how irradiated she was, how long she had before she was in any danger. "Shit." She growled as the Pipboy innocently read three hundred and eighty-one rads, increasing by nine rads per second. She felt the seal and grinned, this had to be one of the doors that had a faulty lock as she could feel a draft from outside. Now all she had to do was get the door open.

Glancing around, Leo was blinded again by a flash from the capacitors and she took a couple of seconds to adjust before remembering the medical supplies on the table. She wobbled over to it, fatigue and nausea setting in with the radiation poisoning. It took her longer that she would have normally expected to get to the table and she scrambled to pick up the bonesaw, cutting her hand open as she fumbled with it. The wound instantly started to itch as it started to heal. She must have hit over four hundred rads now; this was more serious than she had originally thought. Crawling back to the door so that she didn't have to have her eyes open, she reached up and slid the bonesaw between the two rubber seals and worked it up the door. She vaguely registered a voice ordering her to stop, but she ignored it and kept the bonesaw tearing at the seal until it caught in something hard and unforgiving. "Checkmate, fucker!" She shouted as the capacitors flashed again and she forced the door wide falling to the floor as it abruptly flew open and banged against the outside wall. That small fall saved her as she felt a bullet fly past the top of her head and hit the far wall of the laboratory. She pulled her assault rifle from her bag and sprayed the area the bullet had come from, only stopping when she had expended the clip. She looked up to see an elderly man leant against the floor, looking at his stomach in horror. She climbed to her feet, shouldering her assault rifle and pulling out her shotgun. "Where are my companions?" She asked; her voice cold as he looked at her in pure fear. She sighed and raised her shotgun. The shell coloured the wall behind his head in blood and brain-matter and Leo turned, looking in each of the windows down the hall. It seemed that every room had a two way mirror.

It didn't take her long to find Arcade, who looked more or less uninjured and the capacitors had yet to be turned on for him. Nor did it take her very long to over-ride the password on his door and unlock it. She rushed inside, picking the locks on the handcuffs and shaking him awake. "Come on, you asshole. Wake the fuck up!" She shouted as he slowly stirred. "Arcade, now is not the time to nap."

"Wha... Leo? Where are we?" He muttered, slowly sitting up, looking at her with wide, bleary eyes.

"Radiation Labs, no time to explain, Arcade. We've got to move. Let's go." She pulled him to his feet and checked him over, inadvertently giving him a chance to do the same to her.

"Leo… what did they do? Your skin is flaking and you don't look so healthy."

"They were irradiating me. I dunno know why, the scientist wasn't 'live long enough fer me ta ask." She explained as she headed towards the door and peered out. The hallway was clear and just as she was about to step outside, she heard the whine of the capacitors. "Arcade, move! Now!" She shouted, grabbing the man and running from the room as fast as her sickened state would allow. The room lit up a couple of seconds later and she could feel the prick of radiation on her back. "We need ta get outta 'ere, now. Come on." She grabbed his arm and started making her way down the corridor, unlocking any doors that had anyone inside and letting them out, although most rooms were empty.

…

All the while she and Arcade were trying to escape, the voice of the man shouted at his followers, screaming at them to kill the intruders and there was no sign of Dogmeat anywhere. Something collided with Leo's side, knocking her against the wall as she was trying to line up a shot on one of the highly irradiated scientists. She grunted in pain and turned to her new attacker, only to see Arcade resting against her back. His voice was quiet in her ear. "Glowing one, I don't think he has seen us yet. Maybe we can sneak past it." She shook her head as she leaned around the corner to take a look.

"If we go that way, it'll see us an' the scientist'll come runnin', if we go the other, the ghoul'll come runnin'. We need ta pick our battles. Can ye get a good shot on the scientist?" She asked leaning back against the wall, secretly enjoying how close Arcade was to her right then. Briefly she wondered if she could change his mind about being gay, but pushed the thought away with a smirk and shake of her head. "I'll take out the ghoul, 'kay?" He stepped away from her and took aim. "Easy, let me get mine…" She murmured to him as she took aim. "I'm good, yer call." She grinned behind the scope of her pistol; she heard the crack of his plasma pistol and fired. She had aimed for the ghoul's head, covering the area behind it in glowing gore just as something large and brown dived at the now dead ghoul, tearing into it. "Dogmeat?" She called, stepping out from behind the wall and looking at the gore covered dog, who barked in acknowledgement, his tail wagging in excitement. "Good boy, can ye lead us out?" She asked, motioning to herself and Arcade, who was just coming up behind her. Dogmeat barked and ran off down the corridor.

"One of these days, you are going to have to tell how he understands you so well." Arcade commented dryly as they started to jog after the dog, killing scientist and ghoul alike.

After nearly an hour, and their twelfth glowing one, Arcade called over the echoes of the bullet. "Leo, have you noticed anything about these ghouls?" He motioned to the four dead ghouls about them.

"Ev'ry ghoul we've faced 'ave been Glowin' Ones. Ya noticed tha' then?" She replied as she hacked into the overseer's computer. "Got ya!" As the password confirmation screen blipped up. "We can finally fin' out wha's been goin' on here." She grinned at Arcade before turning back to the computer, reading through the logs. "I was right; this Vault was a tes' vault. They wan'ed ta know what radiation'll do ta people, ya know, wha' with the bombs comin' and all." She shook her head. "Initial tests failed, all subjects died in the labs. They wan'ed ta see mutation, adaptation ta the radiation." She read a little further, her scowl deepening with anger. "They didn't get results 'til batch seven, three o' the eight subjects showed signs o' change. They elevated radiation tests, increased duration and rps." She turned to look at the other scientist. "If Vault-tech wasn't destroyed, they soon would be." She snarled before punching in the code to open the escape tunnel back to the entrance. "Come on, I've 'ad enough o' this place." Arcade nodded, heading down into the tunnel behind Dogmeat.

"I think we need to tell everyone else about what we have found down here, the Khans might want to clean this place out. There's some useful technology here." He commented as the headed further down through the tunnel, Leo just behind him. "How are you feeling, Leo?" He asked after a couple of minutes of silence, resting his hand on her shoulder as she passed him to take point.

"Fine, just… thinkin', ya know." She replied shortly, her body tense with the flashes of the night when she had first left the vault.

"Leaving this way is like the way you left the first time, right?" He probed gently, squeezing her arm.

"Yeah… fuck!" She groaned, closing her eyes for a few seconds. "Ya know, part o' me wishes that the Overseer's men 'ad got ta me afore I got out. Life woulda been simpler." She didn't look at Arcade as she opened her eyes and carried on walking. She knew that he would be looking sympathetically at her and right then she needed to not be wallowing in self pity. "Come on, we ain't safe 'til we're outta here." She kept walking.

"Are you going to be alright?" his voice was unsure as he followed behind her.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I jus' really don't like vaults." She sighed coming around the last corner back into the entrance foyer, only to feel something impact her chest. A moment later, her chest felt like it was on fire and she collapsed to her knees. Looking up, she saw a ghoul wearing a vault suit. He was holding a .32 pistol and was grinning at her.

"So, you come here, you kill my companions, my fellow blessed even after we tried to bring to you to the light? After we tried to make you a perfect being?" He growled at her, snarling in anger before turning to Arcade. "Move and I'll kill her. Hand away from your gun." He shook the gun at her as he snarled at him. Leo, however, started to laugh.

"You technique is flawed." She grinned as she lifted her shotgun and fired hitting him squarely in his chest and knocking him from his feet before climbing hesitantly to her own. The sounds of Dogmeat attacking the Overseer made her cringe, as did the cries of pain from the ghoul. As soon as the ghoul's cries stopped, Leo called Dogmeat to her side and started to head towards the exit. All-the-while, unsteady on her feet. "Come on, I need to decontaminate myself. Stay like this much longer, I might just become a ghoul anyway." She smiled back at the stunned Enclave scientist.

**...**

**So, what do you think? Do you want to me to write the full story, or should I just forget about it? Please, R&R?**

**Thanks, Kata'ari.  
**


End file.
